MERMAIDs Drifting Near the Galapagos Islands Reveal Mantle Plume (IMAGE)

Princeton University

MERMAIDs Drifting Near the Galapagos Islands Reveal Mantle Plume

Caption

Floating seismometers dubbed MERMAIDs -- Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers -- reveal that Galapagos volcanoes are fed by a mantle plume reaching 1,900 km deep. By letting their nine MERMAIDs float freely for two years, an international team of researchers created an artificial network of oceanic seismometers that could fill in one of the blank areas on the global geologic map, where otherwise no seismic information is available. Drifting a mile below the surface, MERMAIDs cover a large area. The red circles show where a MERMAID picked up a seismic signal.

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Courtesy of the researchers

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